What the 'Iron Lady' Means to Hong Kong

4/9/2013 3:31AM

As Britain’s prime minister in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher played a pivotal role in the handover of Hong Kong to China. John Carroll of the University of Hong Kong tells the WSJ’s Jeffrey Ng how this former colony views the Thatcher legacy.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

I ... the the ... the people on call ... that factor was that the slice of the character she was that those ... in Britain ... this is Asia's today ... and Jeffrey Ng ... the former British Prime Minister dike Monday morning from a stroke at age eighty seven ... in joining me today to discuss her role ... in Hong Kong's handover to China ... is Professor John Carroll of the University of Hong Kong ... professor Carol thank you for joining us today ... Canadian again ... now ... people either loved or hated Barbara Thatcher and I think the same applies for her here in Hong Kong ... what kind of legacy do you think she is left behind for the city ... well this is the stories go down in Hong Kong history as the person who returned Hong Kong to China ... for better or worse ... and ... he's he's a really good answer that question would depend on on the last two people who ... I ... this morning on my way to work somebody sent asked me why did Mrs Thatcher not white harder to keep us ... when she fought so hard to keep the Falkland Islands ... course I have other friends and acquaintances would say ... she handled things quite well in Shinjuku come back to China to get along ... certainly on the weekend the ninth early nineteen eighties there were high hopes among people in Hong Kong that ... um says Thatcher and her government would fight ... very hard for the future of the city ... and many at least at that time felt betrayed by the government when they ... announce on comfort run in China ... as you say that many people have asked question whether Chicago fought harder ... to fight for Hong Kong and whether tougher in Britain could have kept ... some sort of presence in Hong Kong up ninety seven ... did she tried her best in the shipment detained anything more ... I think we have to ... consider the fact that the first of all of ... Argentina and China were two completely different places and when people ask for example ... oh why did Mrs Thatcher not play for Hong Kong was punishing top Argentina ... I'm ... only then asking whether she would have been willing to go to war with China and I don't think anybody been seriously ... thinking that you go to war with China yesterday was an option I'm anybody's minds at the time ... the other thing I think we have to consider is that ... by the late nineteen sixties ... the traditional already decided to Hong Kong was going to happen ... somehow ... we decided this ... right after the ... nineteen sixty seven riots when they realize that I think it could have taken on the town wanted ... so ... many ways what was going on in the negotiations in nineteen nineteen eighties was not so much intend to keep Hong Kong British ... companies keep some kind of British ... British control ... in ... addition ministrations in Hong Kong even after nineteen seventy ... and in some ways the whole idea of one country two systems ... even though we attributed to ... tell him ... I'm in many ways this was a British idea as well on that British government officials were discussing this in our throughout the nineteen seventies ... when ... Hong Kong ... pull back in China ... but perhaps the tradition he kind of presence here ... I'm running it ... even under Chinese rule ... so the dissident that day Mrs Thatcher and her government really had no choice on the onthe table and ... that that agenda was ... on how short I hopped on the China and not matter that ... exactly I want to Mrs Thatcher did ... suggest that went into it when she asked the question ... the the validity of the treaties with China on ... in in in in in in touch even an ... agreed that they won the Portuguese ... but what you can try at times and she uses just ... always that I'm that ... that that things might be doing that and she did not cross a peace treaty rather when reasoning or not ... one suggestion for sample was to keep in touch next they know it was nice to Britain ... to China in ... eighteen ninety eight but then to retire on the moon and you know anybody does ... you can ... visit it often on this one though that was never ... a plausible idea what's what what's a leper and ... the other thing I think it's important to combine Jeffrey is that ... a lot of criticism about ... the way the addition of negotiations ... came ... several years afterwards especially ... after the Timmermann massacre in nineteen eighty nine ... but it certainly people are talking about how ... good it should be treated Hong Kong they couldn't try harder to keep it but so until the nineteen eighties when the ... negotiations going on ... nobody can predict what happened in the spring of nineteen eighty nine ... you know ... going into Nanjing and in China so a lot of criticism I think it's it's somewhat anachronistic ... still certain that stocks true soul aam as Mrs Thatcher has been ... a was a champion of freedom and democracy ... the Hong Kong sixteen years now after the handover ... all was sixteen years and for democracy in the city ... is still on realize though could there have been in the ... way in which Mrs Thatcher could have ... worked in the better of the deal with the Chinese to ensure ... democracy in Hong Kong at some point ... I'm not ... sure that everyone would agree that Mrs Thatcher was a champion of ... freedom and democracy ... certainly there are people in Northern Ireland we would think otherwise ... certainly there are people who would stated she ... went to harbor ... an earlier to four for sanctions in South Africa so ... that we can agree on is that she was on ... Tuesday contests ... and if you're in it that you know when to state that ... are either she was a champion of freedom and democracy ... I mean this is in many ways one of the armies of glory was ... my ... freedom and democracy in a home but not necessarily ... freedom and democracy in the colonies ... so ... it shouldn't surprise us that the I the the the after ... Mr. promote democracy in Hong Kong ... did not come ... until after ... the slain were out the Dish declaration ... and the city did not really take to ... get steamed ... until after the cameraman massacre of ... nineteen eighty nine so ... I get I don't think we should ... even work on the assumption ... that Mrs Thatcher or anyone else in Hong Kong was thinking seriously about democracy people ... who was active ... certainly ... the analysis city reflects on the life ... of a controversial leader ... people here will remember ... that to have what one decision that Mrs Thatcher made as the impact the lives of nearly ... every single Hong Kong residents have festered Sean Carroll from the University of Hong Kong thank you so much for joining us ... for more ... on this and others to visit us that it WS J dot com ... I'm sure freeing for The Wall Street Journal ...